The Walking Drum (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures): A Novel

One of my first reads of Louis L’Amour, for most of my life I’ve relegated this gentleman to a pervayer of dime novels, based solely on misconception. I’ve now determined that I will endeavor to read this remarkable authors complete writings before I pass. I’d best hurry, I’m already 74 and time is slipping away rapidly, DO NOT procrastinate, you will be depriving yourself of many an evenings enjoyment.

I had no idea that Louis L’Amour had written a book about the middle ages. I had read some of his westerns a very long time ago and knew he was a prolific and popular author. But when a friend recommended this book to me knowing I like historical novels about this period, I decided to try it. Five Stars for sure! What incredible research had to be done to write this story of Europe and the Middle East in the 12th Century. I have not read anything from this part of the world in this time period, and it was fascinating. For one thing, this author can write a scene and the reader is there! The surroundings, whether they are on a ship on the sea, in the deep woods, in a terrifying underground tunnel in darkness, or in the beautiful home of a wealthy aristocrat, simply come alive. The feel of wearing filthy sweaty stinking clothing and the feel of fine linen and silks against your body are so real. But to the story..This is the story of Kerbouchard who is a young Celtic in in Britain when his mother is killed while his father has been away for four years trading and raiding. His father is a famous Corsair/trader/seaman/pirate who has traveled the world and brought home knowledge and customs from other cultures. Kerbouchard was trained as a young boy by the Druids associated with his mother’s family, but also had sailed with fishing vessels and had grown up both on the sea and in the forest. He escapes the men who murdered his mother and burned their house while he was not there, but he falls into the hands of pirates and becomes a galley slave. From there his adventures span a great deal of the civilized world. A great deal of the first half or so of the book take place in Cordoba in Spain which at the time is mostly moslem and very much into learning, books, and intellectual discussion.I will say one thing from reading the many reviews of this book. Some criticize it because Kerbouchard is telling the story and he is proficient at everything so they consider he is too perfect. For one thing this is fiction – historical fiction but Kerbouchard is a fictitious character. His background and his insatiable quest for knowledge would make such a man – if he survives. He goes from the worst poverty to wealth and back again more times than I remember. He lives by is wit, but he is on a quest from the very beginning of the book. The quest is to find and rescue his father if he still lives, which is in question.I love history and reading this book with no prior knowledge of the area or the history was amazing. I realize I had no idea how advanced the world was at that time in things like astronomy, geology, history, medicine, and just plain theory. I definitely will re-read this book as now I can savor it instead of reading to find out what will happen. I did struggle with the names – they are all middle-eastern names and very difficult for me to keep straight.I can’t explain the depth of character this author has created with Kerbouchard. His way of thinking and of getting out of impossible situations is very very interesting. I don’t doubt that in real life such a man in that time period and place probably would not have survived some of them, but this is an adventure story. His constant quest for knowledge is truly inspiring as I know there have been and still are people who live to learn and are more or less obsessed by it.My favorite part of the book comes some past the half way mark. It is a trek across many countries that I lost track of as the author uses the names they were called in the 12th century. Kerbouchard’s goal is to reach a castle where his father is being held by an Assassin King, but for safety, he becomes part of a caravan of traders. This is a trek of months and months, and it is just amazing that these treks were made. I had read about others where shepherds trekked for whole seasons across Afghanistan and Iraq, and this was similar except these were merchants. They went from one Fair to another trading and buying and selling. How they guarded one another and their loyalty to each other was just wonderful to read. The battle toward the end of this trek was perhaps the best scene written and most realistic I have ever read. If ever a reader was right there in a battle, it is this one.I did not mean for this to be so long, but this book really caught me up in the story, the history, and the writing. At the back of the book the author says he will write two more books about Kerrbouchard. Sadly, Louis L’Amour died before he wrote those books. I am so glad he wrote this one.There is some romance as this is a young man alone with no ties to anyone. But it is totally clean and several of the women he “falls for” are above him in station, virgins, and he is an honorable man and remains so.I have to add the fascinating thing about the title, “The Walking Drum”. Imagine over a thousand people, some on horseback, some with wagons, but most of them walking, along with cattle, goats, and sheep. They continue from morning to night when they camp only to begin the next day. They have the Fairs where they spend a few days, but month after month they march, always prepared for attack which does not happen often but does happen. From the book:“The walking drum….a heavy, methodical beat marking the step of each of us. That drum rode on a cart at the rear of our column, and the pace of the march could be made faster or slower by that beat. We lived with that sound, all of us, it beat like a great pulse for the whole company and for those others, too, who had their own drums to keep their pace.”“Nightly camps were each a fortress, our columns like an army on the march. We awakened to a trumpet call, marched upon a second, and all our waking days were accompanied by the rhythmic throb of the walking drum.We heard it’s muted thunder roll against the distant hills, through sunlight and storm. That drum was our god, our lord and master, and a warning to potential enemies.”

This has to be one of the most compelling historical novels I have ever read. L'Amour transports you to this place and time as if you were whisked away in a time machine. It was written before Wikipedia and wide spread use of search engine's so the amount of research that he must have undertaken...by reading books...and visiting libraries had to haven taken nearly a lifetime. In the back of the book it is mentioned how well read and meticulous L'Amour was, having a personal collection of over 17,000 books. It shows. This is a must read if you love history. What a terrible shame that Mr. L'Amour passed away before he could complete anymore books in this planned series of his.

For those who love Louis L'amour's books yet who want a taste of something different then this book is for you, as it is set in the 12th century, and takes place in parts of the Old World not often explored in Western (as in world history Western, as opposed to the American Old West) literature. If you are looking for deep, soul-searching reveries about the nature of being human in the Middle Ages, or something, then maybe this book is not for you. There is a little of that, to be sure, but only just enough. It is more about the adventures of Kerbouchard, who is very much like Mr. L'amour himself. I realize this after having read a couple autobiographical works of his. Like L'amour, Kerbouchard is very well read, has a deep love and respect of books, writing, and learning, yet is very physical, independent, adventurous and of course, amorous. He chronicles his adventures and also gives out with information and little known historical facts, some gleaned from his wide reading, and some from his own experience. Which is pretty much what L'amour does in his writing. So, if you love L'amour, you'll probably love this book.

I have purchased this book for the second time, as I gifted my original copy to my brother who also loved it. I cant say enough about L'amour's writing. He is fairly straight forward and descriptive but not overwhelmingly so where it takes away from the story. You can also tell that this man has lived many an adventure and writes from a lot of experience.This book to me, captures the journey of Man hood that the Man Character Mathurine goes through, the idea of becoming your own man, and sticking steadfastly to that ideal that one day, he will reach the other side of that place within himself. His is a journey of constant learning and testing of himself, meeting situations unfamiliar with a bravado and "fake it till you make it" quality, yet still confident in his skills that he has garnered thus far.I dont want to give too much away, but this epic journey of daring, intrigue, adventure and longing make this book a must read for anyone, let alone for the young man seeking to make his way in the world.

Good read, full of action, this is the first Louis Lamour book I have read and must say how much I enjoyed it, easy to follow a bit far fetched sometimes but not boring, book is quite small with small writing but quite light to hold so travels well and easy to read in bed.Louis Lamour was working on a sequel called "A women worth having " but died before it could be written shame really because The Walking Drum ends leaving the reader as to did he get to find the beautiful women he promised to marry

Thius book was first leant to me about 20 years ago when I was living in Casablanca, at the time I was ill and bed bound I read the book from cover to cover then immediately started again, the history is fantastic, the hero is exaggerated and a "hero" but his romp through the history of the middle ages is absolutely enthralling. No one man could have done what Marthurian Kerbuchard does in the novel, but the writing and research are so well balanced that it does not mater. I would recommend this to adults for pleasure and for parents to buy for their children if they want to inspire in them an interest in history and open their minds to the divers cultures of the world. Post 9/11 this book has even more relevance as this is a classic American cowboy writer exploring in sympathetic terms what Islam gave to Western Europe other than terrorism

Wanted to check this author out. So far so good.

Could have been a classic. Instead it's a failed masterpiece. Full of Medieval story seeds but not actually a particularly good read, not least because of the all knowing all vanquishing main character. Read some Harold Lamb instead.

I had read this book before as someone lent it to me, so good I decided to purchase my own copy, definitely keeps you hooked until the last page